PE 10/14 Warren Buffett Speech – Part 2

I’d like for the moment to have you pretend I've made you a great offer, and I've told you that you could pick any one of your classmates – and you now know each other probably pretty well after being here for a while. You have 24 hours to think it over and you can pick any one of your classmates, and you get 10 percent of their earnings for the rest of their lives.

* thin it over: to take time to consider something before making a decision

= give it some thought; mull it over; think about it

ex> I’ll need to think it over before I say yes to the job offer.

Note> To “think twice” is a similar expression which means to consider a course of action carefully before doing something.

And I ask you, what goes through your mind in determining which one of those you would pick?

* go through one’s mind: to think at a particular moment or under specific circumstances

ex> What goes through your mind when you come close to crashing your car?

You can’t pick the one with the richest father, that doesn't count. I mean, you've got to do with on merit. But you probably wouldn't pick the person that gets the highest grades in the class.

* something doesn't count: to dismiss a quality or factor

ex> People who don’t fill out the survey completely don’t count.

I mean, there’s nothing wrong with getting the highest grades in the class, but that isn't going to be the quality that sets apart a big winner from the rest of the pack.

* set something/someone apart: to cause something or someone to stand out

ex> The intensity with which she works really sets her apart from everyone else.

ex> The thing that set me apart from my classmates as a kid was my height.

And it gets down to a bunch of qualities that, interestingly enough, are self-made. I mean it’s not how tall you are.

* it (all) comes/gets down to: in the end, these are the qualities or circumstances that matter most

ex> To get the best deal, it all comes down to doing your research before making a purchase.